Low HR Training

Noob runner - learning by mistakes (Read 39 times)

First, I want to say thank you to those here who take the time to share their experiences and encourage each other to be healthier runners. I've been lurking for a few weeks and you guys (and all of the stickies) have been very helpful. If I could, I'd like to share my story briefly and get some feedback on my plans from the low HR community.

I'm a noob runner, and a noob "athlete" for that matter. I'm 37 and prior to last summer had never done any kind of exercise with any kind of consistency. I was overstressed at work, felt like crap in general, and was about 40 pounds over my weight from high school/college. My best friend enouraged me to get a road bike last May, then I was hooked, getting in 3 to 4 rides a week. Then sometime in Aug/Sept decided to give running a try, too, and loved it. Was running 10-12 mpw when I felt the competitive urge and started signing up for 5Ks in Oct/Nov, running 23:30 in my first race, then 21:30 in my second race. Then my mistakes became painfully obvious...I ran too fast, too soon. In my third race, I thought "this is easy, why not try to break 20:00?" Haha, seems so stupid in hindsight to have tried that. Suffice it to say that I did not break 20:00 or even PR that day, instead straining my right calf pretty badly (grade 2 strain by my diagnosis) due to a functional leg length discrepancy from pelvic misalignment. I was starting to look like a casualty of running. Kept unsuccessfully trying to run on a partially healed calf in Nov/Dec before admitting that I needed to take a complete month off from running to heal. Found a good chiropractor who has my alignment issue now straightened out.

I think it was divine intervention that I took a month off because it gave me time to research how to be a smarter runner, which is when I stumbled onto Maffetone and aerobic HR running. I devoured everything I could find on the internet, then committed that I was going to regroup and do it right this time. I'm now in my 5th week of MAF running, starting at 9 mpw and planning for 16 this week. MAF pace is progressing each week so far, going from about 11:00 to 10:00 on the treadmill and about 10:00 to 9:00 outside in cool weather. I have added all runs this year to my training log here at RA if anyone is interested.

My question is about how to approach racing. I have signed up for a HM at the end of April and also a series of other races in March called the Triple Crown (5K, 10K, 10 miler). I do want to race them, but DO NOT want to do it at the expense of my health or getting injured. My thought is to come up with a reasonable HR based race plan for each race relative to the distance and just let my pace be what it will be based on my current level of aerobic fitness (i.e. no pace goal). Does anybody have any advice on HR race plans for these distances or am I on the wrong path altogether?

So much for being brief

Eric

Eric

PRs: 5k - (20:42) 3/9/2013 18:55 (9/28/13)

10k - (42:42) 3/23/2013 39:11 (10/26/13) course was short @ 6.0 mi :)

10 mi - (1:12:10) 4/6/2013

HM - (1:34:38) 4/27/2013

jimmyb

posted: 2/21/2013 at 8:44 AMmodified: 2/21/2013 at 8:46 AM

Welcome, Eric!

I made the same mistakes my first 6 months, but lucked out in the injury department. I got so hooked by my first race, I ran one almost every weekend that summer. I even jumped from 4 miles in my first race to a ten miler in my 3rd. I was toast by the 9th race, and did what you did: started learning about running. That's when I got into heart rate training and later on the Maffetone Method.

As far as racing by heart rate, there will be some trial and error involved, but you can start with the Team Oregon Pace Wizard (CLICK) to get a general idea of what your HR should be averaging for a race. If you pop in a recent race time, age, and your MHR, it will give you "Projected Race Performances", and display the HR's. I found them to be very close.

If it gives you (e.g.) 175 bpm for a half marathon, then you could make a plan. Generally, if you were to run an even pace the whole race and measure your HR, it'll take a few miles for your HR to climb up near where it is going to average, then go above the average in the last part of the race. You could make a plan like this where you start out at 160-170 in the first few miles, climb to 170-175 for mid race, then 175-180 the last 3rd, then near max in the last mile. This sort of strategy will make it more probable that you won't start too fast.

There are other plans you could come up with. Some just stick to the average HR. You'll develop your own system after some experimenting.

As for your MHR, make sure you figure it out with running and not a formula. RUnning hard at the end of a training run or race is the best way. A good long warm-up to it. Click here for a good suggestion.

That's a cool calculator, thanks Jimmy! I will definitely keep that handy as I get more data points from the upcoming races. We seem similar...I had no idea how competitive I would feel until I ran that first race! Your committment to healthy running and helping others here is inspiring. Nice work! I've seen you mention that you're walking a lot recently vs running. Are you recovering from some kind of injury?

Thankfully, before I knew about low HR running, I was wearing a HRM during the 5Ks because I'm a dataholic. In my best race, I ran almost flat 7:00 splits with HR starting around 170, then hitting 183 in the final sprint. So add a few beats and my MHR should be 186-188, correct? That's what I will go with for now until new race data says otherwise.

Thanks for the welcome. I hope to be hanging out here for a long time with the slow-twitchers and not be a running burn out

That's a cool calculator, thanks Jimmy! I will definitely keep that handy as I get more data points from the upcoming races. We seem similar...I had no idea how competitive I would feel until I ran that first race! Your committment to healthy running and helping others here is inspiring. Nice work! I've seen you mention that you're walking a lot recently vs running. Are you recovering from some kind of injury?

Thankfully, before I knew about low HR running, I was wearing a HRM during the 5Ks because I'm a dataholic. In my best race, I ran almost flat 7:00 splits with HR starting around 170, then hitting 183 in the final sprint. So add a few beats and my MHR should be 186-188, correct? That's what I will go with for now until new race data says otherwise.

Thanks for the welcome. I hope to be hanging out here for a long time with the slow-twitchers and not be a running burn out

Eric

You're welcome.

Can't go wrong with 183, until you see a higher one. Especially if you are using the MHR to get a HR zone. I suggest erring on the low side (if 183 is actually a hair low), then adjusting your zones up as time goes on, if you feel the ave HR and plan you're using is leaving way too much on the course.

I'm not injured (just fat). I'm in a walking phase as part of something I'm experimenting with. I plan to write a report for this forum at some point about what I'm currently doing. Not ready to get into it yet here publicly--too soon.

hey, nice start until you got injured! as a female beginner runner, those 5K results sound great... you seem to be talented (edit: I said female because your profile said that, your name isn't so female-ish though)

as a female beginner runner, those 5K results sound great... you seem to be talented

your log isn't yet made public.

Hey, I'm a man

My first race post-injury and since I started LHR training is this Saturday. It's a flat 5K where I should PR, but not really going for my 2013 goal to break 20:00 just yet. I will use HR as a guide and take it as far as my current aerobic fitness allows.

My first race post-injury and since I started LHR training is this Saturday. It's a flat 5K where I should PR, but not really going for my 2013 goal to break 20:00 just yet. I will use HR as a guide and take it as far as my current aerobic fitness allows.

I'll be curious to hear about your newest 5K result. good luck for it!

btw, racing based on HR in theory isn't a bad idea but practice is different. I find my HR in races can differ between races, depending on weather mostly. also, in the first mile HR is still warming up and so I cannot use that data for anything because the warmup is affected by several things, in races adrenaline rush as well. I use HR and pace and subjective feeling of effort together... pace for first mile/first few miles, then sticking to a HR ceiling after that, but in warm weather I lean on subjective effort more, allowing HR to go up more. also if I find that the pace in warmup miles hasn't made HR go up enough, that's good reason to speed up, as long as muscles are allowing it. then, second half of race it's up to my legs and lungs, not really HR limiting it anymore. otoh, HR can still show that I got lazy and I can try speeding up again. a good principle overall is that you just need to set the first half of the race the right way, the rest sorts itself out on its own.

this combined use of tools I find is better tactics for me than just using the HRM alone. I can see from forum posts that everyone develops their own method... I'm sure that over time you'll figure out your own strategy too.

Thanks! I think I do have some natural ability to work with as long as I can keep myself under control!

Thanks for the racing advice. I kind of had in mind to go out the first mile based on pace, then see where the HR is and adjust from there. I like your "combined use of tools" approach. This first race is going to be interesting...really don't know what to expect with adrenaline and all. With something like 8,000-10,000 runners, I'm sure there will be no lack of excitement!!!

Here's a race report from my first race of the year and first since I started MAF training.

It was the 10th annual Anthem 5K in Louisville, KY which is the first leg of the "Triple Crown of Running" series which leads up to the Kentucky Derby Festival half/full marathon. Let me just say that regardless of my results, which I'm very happy with, it was an awesome race all around! These folks have been doing this for awhile and it went off without a hitch from my perspective. With a little under 8,000 participants, it was by far the largest race I've run. Weather was near perfect at 37 degrees, sunny and virtually no wind. I did not regret the choice of shorts, t-shirt and thin gloves. I arrived over an hour early, made a pit stop before there was a line at the porta johns, then 20 min warm up with a friend who also started running last year and is doing some MAF training. Another pit stop with 10 min to go almost cost me a good starting position, but with about 1 min to spare was able to maneuver within the first few hundred runners, which was where I roughly projected my finish.

And they're off!!! What a rush, I think I was at MAF HR before I took the first step, lol. There were people of all ages and paces, obviously, but they had done a pretty good job of lining us as most in my vicinity were running close enough in pace that bobbing and weaving was not too bad. Now to execute the race plan...even though I didn't think my 2013 goal to break 20 min was going to be in play today, I wanted to go out around 6:30 just in case I surprised myself Went a little too fast briefly, then tried to settle in. But very quickly started to get a side stitch. I thought wow this is going to be a LONG race! I had eaten a little too much for breakfast too close to the start. Scrambled eggs and toast with peanut butter and honey a little over 2 hours pre-race. Lesson learned for next time! So held HR steady at 174 to see if stitch would subside which it slowly did mostly go away. After a 6:45 first mile, I knew that sub-20 was not going to happen today, but a PR and sub-21 was my realistic goal.

The only hill to speak of is at the start of mile 2 and HR climbed to just over 180. My previous max HR in a 5K was 184 last year, so started to get concerned that I was going there too soon in the race. Mile 2 at 6:52, shoot, was hoping for negative splits. So holding pace in mile 3 and decide to try a little push--HR moves into the mid 180s--ok, new territory--uncomfortable, but I don't feel like I'm going to vomit or die. Backed off a little to regroup for the final push. With about 0.3 mi to go, the finish line was in sight, so it's now or never. Pushed HR up to 191 and pace into the mid 5s. Wow that took a lot of determination! Mile 3 at 6:22 and new PR by almost a minute, 20:42 chip time (not sure why it's coming into RA as 20:35) 6:37 pace. And best of all, no new injuries, PRAISE THE LORD!!!

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! This is as much for me to look back on a year from now. Now it's back to MAF training until the next race, my first 10K in two weeks, and supporting the half dozen or so relatives and friends who have started aerobic HR running in recent weeks If anybody has any racing advice, I'm certainly open to it as I'm sure I still don't know what I don't know. Everything in my log should now be public. Thanks!

WTG. Great report. The race is post at 3.12 miles instead of 3.1 which effects the pace. You may what to re post in the"Race" thread. I almost did not read it.

PS: You may want to do a easy 1.5 mile WU and finish 2 minutes before the start.

Run until the trail runs out.

2200 miles ---2015

50miler 13:26:18

Race Less Train More

Pistol 100 ----01/03/15 27:46:58

The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff